Fly Away
by radredknuxfan
Summary: Blu and Jewel's life in the Amazon gets thrown into chaos as their kids disappear into the rainforest. Can they find them before it's too late? And why did they fly off in the first place? This story takes place during the events of Rio 2. This is also my first Rio story, so be nice please.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, I'll admit that I'm only a recent fan of the Rio films. I only picked up the first one because I was at Best Buy purchasing a gift, and I got it for ten bucks. It also had a free ticket for Rio 2 as well, which was very nice. Anyway, I watched the movie and it was actually really good. I really liked the music, and the story was pretty nice as well. Same goes for the sequel. Anyway, things aren't really going to be so colorful and high spirited with the idea I have for this fic, so don't expect anything like any of the other stories I've written on my profile.

* * *

It was a beautiful day in the Amazon. The birds are chirping, the animals are going about their business…everything was going smoothly, just like any normal day.

Inside the secret spix macaw sanctuary, Blu, Jewel and the kids were busy trying to smoothly integrate themselves into the community. However, a wrench was thrown into their plans when Jewel's old friend Roberto shows up, firmly planting himself between the two of them. This forced Blu to resort to desperate measures to make sure that Roberto doesn't go as far as to try to steal Jewel away from him.

First, he tried making friends with Jewel's father Eduardo, letting the older macaw teach him how to live life as a wild macaw, but his domesticated lifestyle prevented him from effectively perform the tasks Eduardo asked him to do. This only led to him thinking that Blu wasn't worth training, further driving a wedge between them.

Blu even tried to impress Jewel by putting himself into a game of fruit ball against the scarlet red macaws, which he accidentally made happen by taking a Brazil nut from their territory. He played well for a while after getting substituted in, only to score the winning goal for the other team.

Despondent after realizing that the whole colony probably hates him, he decided that the best course of action was to talk to Jewel and see what was going on.

So, as everyone was about to go to bed, Blu flew into their tree house and landed next to Jewel as she was putting Tiago into bed.

"Hey Jewel, can I speak to you for a moment? In private?"

Jewel nodded, and the two of them flew up higher into the tree house.

"What's going on, Blu?"

Blu sighed before replying.

"Look, I've been noticing how you and Roberto seem to be getting along. A little too well, if you ask me."

Jewel looked at Blu, slightly confused.

"Wait, what are you talking about? We've known each other since we were little! Do you really expect me to just ignore him?"

Blu didn't answer, but Jewel could tell what he was thinking from his expression.

"I get it. You're jealous, aren't you?"

"What? N-no, of course not. What makes you think that I'd be jealous of that bird?"

Jewel gave him a disbelieving look.

"Sure, of course you're not."

Blu sighed, realizing he was caught.

"Yeah, alright. I am kind of jealous of him. Who wouldn't be, though?"

Jewel opened his beak to answer before Blu cut her off as he continued speaking.

"Honestly, I'd just feel more comfortable if you'd be a little supportive of me. Most of the other birds probably hate me because of that fiasco with the red macaws this afternoon, and you're busy spending time with everyone else."

Jewel stared at Blu with a hurt expression on his face.

"Wh-I'm just trying to get out and spend time with my family! Why would you say these things?"

Suddenly, Blu's expression faltered as he realized he shouldn't have said what he said. But before he could apologize, Jewel suddenly spoke again.

"Look, Blu…I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that this was just pent-up aggression from today. You didn't really have to take it out on me, though!"

"I'm sorry, Jewel. I didn't mean-"

Jewel held up a wing to cut him off.

"Let's just head to bed. Hopefully a good night's sleep will help you cool off."

Blu stared at Jewel as she flew back down to where the kids were; regret filling his heart as he thought the stupid things he said.

"Stupid. Why didn't I think this through better?" he said to himself as he followed Jewel down.

He was about ready to fall asleep next to her before she suddenly pushed him away with a wing.

"Please Blu, I need some space."

Depressed at how far this has gotten, Blu slowly flew over to another area of the tree house, wishing today never happened as he went to sleep.

* * *

The next day, Blu woke up refreshed and ready for a new day, before suddenly remembering what happened last night. He looked over to where Jewel was originally sleeping only to find she wasn't there, and neither were the kids.

Blu decided that the best course of action to start the day was to find Jewel and apologize, knowing that he needed to get it over with if he wanted to repair their relationship.

So, as he flew out of the treehouse and into the sanctuary, he kept one eye looking around the area for Jewel. Eventually, he found her standing near the waterfall in the middle of the sanctuary, talking to her dad. He immediately went into a dive, landing near where they were.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Eduardo turned around to look at Blu, a stern look on his face.

"I hear you've been saying some bad things to my daughter. I won't stand for that, as I'm sure you've figured out already."

Blu gulped before replying.

"That's actually the reason I'm here. Can I speak to her, alone?"

Eduardo's expression didn't change, which Blu took as a 'no'.

"Well, can I at least speak to her, please?"

Eduardo continued to stare at Blu for a few more seconds before finally relenting.

"Alright, but I'm keeping my eye on you."

Blu sighed in relief as he turned toward Jewel.

"Jewel, I just wanted to apologize for what I said last night."

Jewel gave a disapproving noise, but she let Blu continue.

"While I do still love the time that I've spent back in Minnesota, spending a majority of my lifetime with just Linda for company, as well as originally thinking I was the only bird of my kind in existence can lead to a pretty lonely life. But now that I have you and the kids, as well as everyone else in this sanctuary, it's a lot to take in, especially with someone like me who is used to the kind of lifestyle I had. And now that I was suddenly alone again just as I finally got used to being around you guys… it was too much to take!"

Jewel's expression noticeably softened as she listened to Blu's explanation.

"So, what I'm saying is, can you forgive me?"

Blu looked at Jewel nervously, not sure whether his apology was enough. But when she smiled, he sighed in relief.

"Apology accepted, Blu. I'm glad to see you've finally come to your senses."

"I'm really sorry about that, Jewel. I promise, I'll find a different way to let off steam if this kind of thing ever happens again."

Blu and Jewel both hugged before Blu looked at Eduardo, who gave him a small smile.

"Good work on that, Blu. Don't expect me to be more lenient if this happens again, though."

"Of course, sir. Thanks for understanding."

Eduardo grunted before flying off.

"So, what do you want to do now?" asked Blu.

"What's say we grab the kids and go see what the guys are up to?"

"Sounds good. Do you know where they are?"

"I thought that you still had them back at the treehouse." said Jewel.

"No, they were gone when I woke up. I figured that they were here with you."

Blu's eyes widened as he realized what could have happened, but Jewel was there to comfort him.

"Don't worry, Blu. I'm sure that they're probably somewhere around the sanctuary. We'll find them."

Blu still looked noticeably nervous, but he nodded and the two of them flew off to begin their search.

* * *

However, their search efforts were fruitless, as neither of them could find any of the kids, even with the help of the other macaws.

The two of them were noticeably beginning to panic as they found Nico, Pedro and Rafael, who were busy setting up their own version of Carnaval.

As they landed on the ground, Rafael looked over and saw the two of them, immediately noticing the look that the two of them had on their faces.

"What's going on, you two? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

"Raf, we can't find the kids!" said Blu.

"What do you mean? Aren't they still in the sanctuary?"

"We've looked everywhere! They're nowhere to be found!" said Jewel.

"Dear lord, then that must mean…"

None of them wanted to think of that possibility, so Rafael decided to just drop it right there, turning towards the other two birds.

"Yo Nico! Pedro!"

The two of them flew over and landed in front of them.

"What gives, Raf? We kind of had a thing going with that last act!" said Pedro.

"Blu and Jewel's kids are missing."

Nico and Pedro both gasped.

"They're not in the sanctuary?" asked Nico.

Both Blu and Jewel shook their heads.

"Well, we've got to get a search party going! The sooner we get out there, the less of a chance they have to get too far out."

"So, are you guys going to help us out?" asked Jewel.

"Of course! What kind of friends would we be if we didn't?" said Rafael.

"Thanks so much, you guys. It means a lot." said Blu.

They were all about to fly off, when Pedro suddenly stopped, having realized something.

"Hey you guys, wait a second!"

The rest of the group stopped in their tracks and looked back at Pedro.

"What is it, Pedro? We're kind of losing time here." said Blu, wanting to get moving so they don't lose any more ground.

"The Amazon's a big place. It's gonna take weeks for the five of us to search through it by ourselves. We need to get more birds to help!"

"Pedro does have a point, you guys. You think we should ask the other macaws for help?" asked Jewel.

Blu wasn't sure if they would be willing after what he did to them, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a shot.

"Yeah, let's go talk to them. I'm sure that they'd be happy to help once we explain our situation."

So, as the five birds flew off towards the spix macaw sanctuary, Blu couldn't help but worry, hoping that their children were still okay. However, there was a also a thought at the back of his mind wondering why the kids disappeared in the first place, but he brushed it off, preferring instead to focus on the task ahead.

* * *

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Let me know what you think.


	2. Chapter 2

After some searching, Blu, Jewel and the rest of the group managed to find Eduardo on the outskirts of the sanctuary.

"Whoa, where's the fire? You guys all look like you're in a hurry to get somewhere."

"We're sorry about that sir, but we have an emergency." said Blu.

"What kind of emergency?"

"The kids are gone! They disappeared this morning, and we haven't seen them anywhere around the sanctuary." said Jewel.

Eduardo's eyes widened in surprise as he learned about this turn of events.

"If they're not in the sanctuary, then they're probably somewhere in the depths of the Amazon by this point. You're going to have a lot of ground to cover."

"That's why we came to you. We were hoping that you and the rest of the macaws would be able to help us out searching for the three of them." said Rafael, who came up next to Blu as he spoke.

Eduardo paused as he thought about his choice. He definitely wanted to be able to find the kids, considering he didn't want to lose them so soon after finding out he was a grandfather. However, the safety of the rest of the flock was way too important for him to agree to send the other macaws in hundreds of directions where they could get captured, or worse.

So, reluctantly, he turned towards the rest of the group with a sad look on his face.

"I would love to be able to help you guys out, but I can't risk sending everyone out into the forest."

"Come on, daddy! Our kids are out there probably lost and very afraid, and the more birds we have out there searching, the quicker we can bring them back to safety. Do you want them starving to death on your conscience?"

Jewel gave her father a distraught look, hoping to convince him to change his mind, but the older bird turned away, not able to look at his daughter.

"I'm sorry, Jewel. I can't. Roberto can go with you, but that's all I can compromise on."

As the rest of the group looked on, Jewel stared at her father, unable to say anything. Finally, she turned away from Eduardo to face Blu, looking like she was on the verge of tears.

"Let's go find Roberto. I want to start searching as soon as we can."

Without waiting for an answer, Jewel flew off, leaving everyone else standing there, trading looks between Eduardo and the disappearing form of Jewel.

Blu, meanwhile, looked at the distraught Eduardo, studying the expression on his face. While he did feel some pity for the predicament he was in with trying to protect the sanctuary from smugglers and other predators, he did wish that Eduardo would have found it in his heart to let some of the other macaws help find the kids. But Blu sighed to himself, knowing the past was the past, as he turned towards the rest of the group.

"Come on, you guys. Let's go find Roberto as well so we can get the search started."

Rafael walked up and placed a comforting wing around Blu's shoulders.

"We're with you, buddy, through thick and thin. Isn't that right, you guys?"

Pedro and Nico responded in the affirmative, and Blu gave the three of them a small smile. As the four of them flew off, Blu couldn't help but look back at Eduardo, and he was able to catch the forlorn look Jewel's father gave them before he flew off in a different direction.

* * *

The guys finally managed to catch up to Jewel just as she found Roberto hanging out in a tree over near the waterfall.

"Are you doing alright, Jewel?" asked Blu as they all landed not far from where Roberto was.

Jewel paused, letting out a shuddering breath before turning towards Blu.

"I'll be alright. I just needed to get that out of my system."

Blu wrapped his wings around Jewel, and the two of them stood there for a few seconds while everyone else looked on.

"Don't worry, we'll find them. I know we will."

Finally, Blu let Jewel go, and they were about to join Roberto when Jewel suddenly spoke up again.

"I really should apologize to my dad. I know that he means well, even if his priorities aren't always completely straight."

"Good idea, but let's worry about that once the kids are safe home, alright?" asked Blu.

Jewel nodded, and they finally flitted up to the tree branch Roberto was on.

"What's going on, you guys? You look like you two have got something on your minds."

"Let me just get right to the point, Roberto. Our kids are missing in the jungle, and Jewel's dad wants you to come with us to help find them." said Blu, who still didn't trust Roberto being around Jewel despite it really being the wrong time for jealousy.

As for Roberto himself, his beak fell open in surprise temporarily before he closed it again, adopting a determined look on his face.

"Say no more. I'm with you guys all the way. We'll bring the kids back no matter what it takes."

"Thank you, Roberto. We really appreciate it." said Jewel, hugging Roberto while Blu looked on desperately trying to hide the feelings of jealousy that was cropping up in his chest.

Finally, Blu had had enough, putting himself between the two of them and separating them with his wings.

"Alright, you two. I think we should probably get going. We're already losing time."

Although Jewel gave Blu a small glare for the interruption, they both nodded and the six birds flew off, heading into the jungle.

* * *

An hour passed, and there was still no sign of the kids anywhere. As much as Blu wanted to stick together so they don't get lost, he knew that they would never get anywhere if they flew in one big clump.

So, he signaled for the rest of the team to land, and they did so on a tree branch.

"Is there something going on, Blu?" asked Nico.

"As much as I hate to admit it, we're not getting anywhere with the six of us together. We should be able to cover more ground if we split up into groups."

"That's actually a pretty good idea." said Rafael, nodding.

Everyone else nodded in agreement as well, so Blu took it as a signal to continue on.

"Alright, so Jewel and I are going to be in one group. Nico and Pedro are going to be another, and Rafi and Roberto are going to be the last group. Any questions?"

Pedro raised his wing.

"I think you would probably know about this already, but that's only three groups and still a lot of ground to cover. Are you sure that doing it solo wouldn't be better?"

Blu sighed before replying.

"While I do agree that it would work better that way, the Amazon is massive, and I'm pretty positive Roberto is the only one of us that actually has any idea of where things are. Isn't that right, Roberto?"

Roberto shrugged.

"Not everything, to be honest. But it's enough to get around."

"Not exactly what I expected, but it still proves my point. Searching in pairs should help us cover more ground without getting ourselves too lost." said Blu.

Blu looked at the rest of the team, waiting to see if there were any more questions. When none came, he straightened up.

"A couple more things I want to say before we split up. I'm sure all of you don't want to be out here after dark, so start heading back to the sanctuary when the sun starts to set. Also, if any of you guys manage to find the kids, take them back to the sanctuary and stay with them. I don't want to risk anything else happening. Everyone understand?"

Everyone replied in the affirmative, and they finally split up into their groups, heading in different directions to begin their search.

As Blu and Jewel flew off to their section of the jungle, Jewel couldn't help but point out something she saw from Blu.

"Wow, Blu, you really know how to take charge."

Blu nervously coughed, not expecting to get complimented like that.

"Really? Uh…thanks, Jewel. I guess when you put your mind to it; you can pretty much do anything, especially if you have such great friends like we do."

Jewel smiled as they continued on, calling out for their missing children the entire time.

* * *

Meanwhile, not far from said tree, Nigel was busy making his way through the jungle on top of Charlie the tamandua. As for Gabi, she was perched on top of Charlie's hat, her eyes focused entirely on Nigel.

"Ugh, where is that blasted bird? I swear, the Amazon feels so much larger than it really is." said Nigel.

"I know where one bird is." said Gabi, sighing as she looked at the mangled cockatoo.

Nigel glared at Gabi, realizing who she was talking about.

"Not me, you dolt! I'm talking about that blue bird that ruined my life!"

Gabi continued to stare at Nigel for the next few seconds, before suddenly realizing what she was supposed to be doing.

"Sorry, Nige. I'll make sure to keep a lookout for him."

The poison dart frog faced the other way and began looking around if there was any sign of Blu, but not before looking back at Nigel one more time and sighing in content.

Suddenly, a rustling noise came from the trees above. Hearing the noise, Nigel looked up and saw a streak of blue, followed by separate streaks of yellow, red and black. Realizing he may have found them, Nigel quickly looked forward once again.

"Follow those birds, Charlie! Yah!"

Nigel slapped Charlie on the butt as hard as he could with his mangled wings, and the tamandua rushed off as quickly as possible, barely managing to keep up with the birds.

Unfortunately, Charlie began to wear out, allowing the birds to pull ahead.

"Come on, move! They're getting away!" yelled Nigel.

Finally, Charlie slowed to a stop, collapsing to the ground and breathing heavily.

"Agh, you stupid animal! What are you even worth to me anymore?" said Nigel, giving Charlie a swift kick as he dismounted him.

Nigel looked up at the swiftly disappearing flock of birds, wondering just what exactly they were in such a hurry to do, when Gabi suddenly spoke up, having hopped up on to a log next to the cockatoo.

"So, what are we going to do now, Nigel? With the speed they were going, it's probably going to take a while if we even hope to catch up to them."

Nigel paused, considering his next course of action.

"Well, we're not going to be getting anywhere with Charlie in the state he's in, so I suppose we're going to have to spend the night here. Hopefully they still have a place to go to at night so we have an idea of where they're at."

Gabi nodded even though her eyes were still staring dreamily at Nigel, unable to focus on anything else besides him.

As the three evil-doers prepared to spend the night, Nigel's thoughts returned to what was so important that Blu needed to fly at those kinds of speeds for. He was admittedly curious.

However, he was rudely pulled out of his thoughts when Gabi began loudly eating a fly she caught with her tongue. Sighing in disgust, Nigel fell asleep, thinking that he would be able to get some answers tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Unfortunately, before the search could really get going, a thunderstorm came though the Amazon, forcing the search party to find shelter, as they couldn't risk continuing to look for the kids with how bad the weather was being.

As Blu and Jewel looked at the rain falling around them from the safety of a convenient hole in a tree, Blu sighed, looking down at his feet.

"This is going from bad to worse."

"Hey, cheer up, Blu. Just because it's thundering right now doesn't mean anything bad it happening to them. They might be in shelter like us, completely safe."

"I hope you're right, Jewel. I really do."

Unable to think of anything else to say, the two macaws decided to pass the time waiting out the storm by taking a nap, thinking that being more rested would help them out.

* * *

Blu woke up a little while later to find the rain had thankfully stopped. But when he had fully awakened, he found himself face to face with Felipe of all birds.

Blu yelled in surprise, which woke up Jewel. She looked around in confusion for a bit, wondering what was going on when she saw the scarlet macaw standing right in front of the two of them.

"Felipe, what are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that same question. What are you doing back in our territory?"

Blu sighed, not in the mood to deal with this after what he had to go through yesterday.

"Look Felipe, I'm sorry that we crossed over into your territory. To be honest, I would stay out of it more if I actually knew what parts of the jungle were yours. How about you tell me what the boundaries are? Huh?"

Felipe was flustered, not expecting Blu to be that cross. But before he could open his beak to retort, Blu continued talking.

"Now if you'll excuse us, our kids are missing, and we have to go find them."

Blu roughly pushed past Felipe, with Jewel giving him a sympathetic look as she passed by. However, before they could fly off, Felipe flew off as well to catch up to them, realizing how much of an idiot he was being.

"Hey guys, wait!"

Blu and Jewel stopped, and they both looked at him questioningly.

"I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted just now. I haven't had any kids yet, but I understand how much you guys must be worried about them. I'll make sure the other scarlet macaws don't interfere while you're finding them, but I can't guarantee anything past that."

Both Blu and Jewel smiled.

"Thanks, Felipe." said Jewel as the two of them flew off to continue their search.

* * *

A few miles away, Pedro and Nico were also continuing their search once the thunderstorm cleared out. However, they were in the middle of combing through an area that had a lot of plants that the kids would easily be able to blend into, a fact that irritated Pedro.

"Man, we're never going to find any of them through all of this blue!"

Nico looked around the area and found that the majority of the ground was indeed covered with plants that could easily hide the kids if they weren't higher in the trees. Still, he wasn't worried.

"True, but there's no guarantee they ended up down there. They're birds, remember?"

Pedro did see Nico's point, but something else was weighing on his mind.

"Well, what if they couldn't find somewhere high to ride out the thunderstorm? Those plants could give them some decent cover, especially with how small they are."

"If it'll make you feel better, Pedro, how about you fly closer to the ground? You might be able to see through the plants easier."

"I will do that."

Pedro dived down closer to the ground, combing through the bushes while Nico continued to look around in the trees.

Not too long after, Pedro suddenly spotted something a few feet away from him.

"Hey Nico, I think I found something!"

Nico quickly looked down just as Pedro shot beneath the bushes, appearing a few seconds later with a blue feather.

"You think it's one of theirs?" asked Nico as he flew down to meet them.

Rather than answer, Pedro started to study the feather, even going as far as to sniff it and put it into his mouth, earning him a disgusted look from Nico.

"Eww, what was that, man?"

"I saw that guy Tulio doing it once, and he was able to figure out what bird it belonged to. I thought I would be able to as well if I did it that way."

Nico gave him a disbelieving look.

"Wouldn't that also involve actually knowing about other birds besides you?"

"Hey, I am a pretty cool bird to know about." said Pedro, giving Nico a suave look.

Nico couldn't resist chuckling.

"You're something else, Pedro. Come on, we might be on the right track."

The two birds flew off once more, with the two of them once again covering the top and bottom of the area.

* * *

As for Rafael and Roberto, things weren't going as well as originally planned. The fact that they were the only team out of the search party who barely knows each other came back to bite them hard.

Despite the fact that Roberto had his heart in the right place with wanting to find the kids, his brain was leading him astray, as every so often whenever the two of them pass by a female bird, Roberto couldn't resist showing off a little bit to them, which annoyed Rafael greatly.

Finally, after one too many times of having to pull Roberto away from some girls so that they could continue the search, Rafi had finally had enough. He not only pulled Roberto away from the girls, he pulled the bird all the way to a tree branch far away from them, setting him down on it as he confronted him.

"What's going on, Roberto? You've been going on before we started this whole thing about how you're all in on finding the kids, but now I see you're too busy scoping out the chicas. What's wrong with you, man?!"

"What do you mean? I'm just asking them if they've seen the kids."

Rafael gave Roberto a disbelieving look, clearly seeing through his poor attempt at an excuse.

"What's Jewel going to think of you now when she sees you like this? She sees you like a brother!"

Roberto opened his beak, but closed it when he realized Rafi was right. He sighed.

"Oh god, what have I been doing? Ju-ju's going to hate me for being like this."

Rafael, realizing that Roberto understands how he was acting, placed a comforting wing around his shoulder.

"Let me tell you something, Roberto. I used to be kind of like you once. Maybe not as handsome as you are, but I was a party animal. Most of my free time was spent in any of the bird clubs around Rio. But when I met my wonderful wife Eva, and we had our kids, I knew that I had to change. It's not so bad, to be honest. The kids can be a handful, but I at least still get to spend some time with the guys."

"How many kids do you have?" asked Roberto, curious.

"Twenty-one."

Roberto's beak fell open.

"That many? Man, that must be tough."

Rafael chuckled.

"Yeah, it can be. But all I have to do to quiet them all down is to threaten to call their mother. She can be a bit of a control freak, but I love her just the same."

Roberto smiled as he thought about what Rafael said.

"Thanks for that, Rafael. I needed that."

"Just call me Rafi."

Roberto nodded, finally resolving to turn himself around and focus his entire attention on the search ahead.

However, before they could get on with it, the sun started to set.

"Looks like it's starting to get dark. Let's head back while we can still see our way around. That sound good with you, Rafi?" asked Roberto.

Rafael looked back behind him, not wanting to abandon the search after finally getting somewhere, but he knew it wouldn't be safe, so he agreed, and the two of them headed back towards the sanctuary, with Roberto leading the way.

* * *

Rafael and Roberto returned to the sanctuary a little while later to find the rest of the search party had already returned a little bit before they did. However, Jewel was nowhere to be found, so when they landed, Rafael went ahead and asked about it.

"Hey Blu, where's Jewel at?"

"Oh, she went to go find her dad and apologize about what happened this morning. She should be back pretty soon, hopefully."

Rafi nodded, and the five of them waited for Jewel to return, idly chatting about some interesting things that happened while they were out.

Finally, Jewel returned a little while later looking noticeably happier.

"Hey Jewel. How did things go with your dad?" asked Blu.

"Pretty well, actually. I told him I don't blame him for wanting to protect the flock, and we patched things up. I was kind of surprised how quickly things went."

"Well, he did seem pretty remorseful from the look I saw on his face." said Blu.

Jewel gave Blu a warm smile before turning towards the rest of the group.

"So, did you guys manage to find anything?"

Both Rafael and Roberto shook their heads, but Pedro showed the two of them the feather he found, which was slightly mangled due to Pedro's treatment of it.

Jewel looked at the feather, slightly confused.

"What is it?"

"It's a feather! I found it on the ground a few miles out, and I think it might belong to one of the kids." said Pedro.

"What happened to it, though? It looks like it's been through quite a lot." said Blu.

"Pedro tried to use that technique that Tulio does to determine what kind of bird it belonged to."

Everyone else besides Pedro and Nico looked disgusted, forcing Pedro to defend himself.

"What? I thought it would work!"

"Well, regardless, we have at least something to go on. As for Blu and I, we didn't find anything, but we did manage to convince Felipe to let us search in the scarlet macaw territory. And I wouldn't have been able to do it without Blu's help, too." said Jewel.

Blu blushed.

"Oh, it was nothing."

"So, if we're done here, I say we all head for bed. Getting back on the search early in the morning should help us catch up with them a little easier."

Everyone else agreed with Jewel's reasoning, and the six of them headed off to rest as they prepared for another day.


	4. Chapter 4

Alright, just so people don't get on me about this, let me take care of some loose ends.

DISCLAIMER: Everything related to Rio is owned by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios. The only thing I claim as mine is the concept of this story.

* * *

The sun rose on yet another gorgeous day in the Amazon. Inside the spix macaw sanctuary, Blu, Jewel and Roberto were asleep inside Roberto's pad. Since another one of the macaws was taking care of the night watch, this allowed Roberto to keep the two lovebirds company, which they appreciated.

Jewel was the first one to wake up, and as she looked over at her mate, she saw that Blu was still fast asleep. The one thing that really surprised her was the look of anguish on Blu's face as he was unable to keep still.

Jewel quickly went into action, grabbing Blu and shaking him as hard as she could.

"Blu? Blu! Wake up!"

Blu awoke with a start, heavily breathing as he looked around the room.

"What? What happened?"

Jewel gave him a warm smile.

"It's nothing, Blu. You were just having a bad dream."

Blu took a few seconds to collect his thoughts. Suddenly, he started to remember snippets of his dream, and his expression darkened.

"Sorry if I worried you, Jewel. I know that I'm trying to be strong while we look for the kids, but I can't help but think of all the bad things that could be happening to them right now."

Jewel shushed him, wrapping her wings around him.

"It's okay to be afraid sometimes, Blu. I'm not going to think any different of you."

Blu gave Jewel a smile of his own before the two of them broke their embrace.

"We should get going. We've gotta meet up with everyone else before we head off."

Jewel nodded, and Blu flew off to where the search team met up last time. But before Jewel could follow, Roberto suddenly woke up.

"Morning, sleepyhead. You woke up just in time. We're going to meet up before we head off today. You coming?" asked Jewel.

"You know it! Come on, let's go, Ju-ju!" said Roberto, ready to prove to Rafael that his mind was in the right place.

Jewel couldn't help but be impressed with Roberto's sudden can-do attitude.

"Wow, you definitely seem ready to go."

Roberto replied with a grin, not wanting to reveal his new outlook on life quite yet. At least, not while the kids were still missing.

Their conversation finished, the two birds flew out of the tree and began making their way to the meeting spot.

* * *

Jewel and Roberto finally managed to make it to the meeting spot not too long after everyone else arrived. As Roberto went over to join Rafael, Blu flew out in front of the group.

"Alright, I'll make this short so we can get started. Does everyone remember where they left off in their sections?"

Expecting to see all affirmative answers, Blu was surprised to see a lot of reluctant 'kind of' answers instead. Blu sighed, before amending the orders that he was going to originally say.

"Just try and see if you guys can at least find the general area of where you left off yesterday. I don't really want to waste any time treading ground that we've already went through."

Blu paused to look at the rest of the team.

"So, does anyone have any questions before we go?"

Rafael raised his wing.

"Sorry to ask, but what makes you think that the kids wouldn't head towards areas that we have already covered in our search? It's pretty unlikely that they would be heading in one direction the entire time."

Blu opened his beak to rebut, but he realized that Rafi did have a point.

"You know what? You're right. If you guys feel like it would help, go ahead and search through the areas you already went through. Be quick about it, though. We don't want to lose any more ground."

The rest of the search party nodded in understanding.

"Good. You guys should all remember the guidelines, so let's get started."

The six birds split into their groups, and they all flew off, ready for another day of searching.

* * *

As Blu and Jewel began the search inside their section of the forest, they began running into a lot more of the scarlet macaw tribe. Both of them were understandably nervous seeing all of the looks that they were giving the two of them, but thankfully none of them interfered.

"Thank you, Felipe." Blu said to himself once they finally passed all of them and reached a new section of the forest.

As they flew through the forest, calling out each of their kids' names, Blu suddenly realized something. He turned towards Jewel as they landed on a tree branch to rest.

"Hey Jewel, do you really think we should be yelling so loud?"

"What do you mean? We can't exactly rely on just looking for them."

"Well, I do agree that we can't just stop yelling. We just shouldn't be yelling as loud. It might attract predators."

"Oh come on, Blu. When was the last time that you've ever seen any predators here?"

As if to answer Jewel's question, the two birds froze as they heard a low growling sound. They looked down below them and saw a jaguar eyeing them hungrily.

"What do we do?" asked Jewel.

"Don't move. Maybe it might leave us alone."

Unfortunately, Blu's plan backfired almost immediately, as the jaguar began climbing up the tree at a pretty fast pace.

"RUN!" Blu yelled.

Both of the birds took off immediately. As for the jaguar, their sudden escape caught it off guard, and it fell off of the tree, landing on its side. Almost as if the less than graceful fall never happened, the jaguar hopped up on to its feet seconds later and ran after the birds, managing to keep up with the two of them quite easily.

As Blu and Jewel continued to fly through the forest, Blu looked behind him and yelled in fright as he saw the jaguar behind them. Thankfully, Jewel was there with her own plan.

"Get up above the trees! We might be able to lose him if we do!"

Not wanting to waste time arguing, Blu angled himself upwards, successfully managing to squeeze through an opening in the trees. He began hovering, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the bright sun.

Jewel popped up not too far away from where Blu was, and she went over to rejoin her mate.

"You okay?" Blu asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That was close."

Jewel took a second to catch her breath before speaking again.

"Let's wait for a bit before we head back down. I don't want to run into that big cat again."

"Me neither. I thought I had it bad with the house cats back in Minnesota." said Blu.

As they landed on a high tree branch to rest, Jewel couldn't help but giggle at Blu's attempt at humor. However, Blu saw through it pretty easily.

"Now Jewel, I know when you're trying to humor me. I know that joke was pretty bad."

Jewel put on a face like she didn't know what Blu was talking about, but relented when she saw the unimpressed look on her mate's face.

"Alright, alright. You do still need some work on your delivery, but you're getting there!"

Although Blu didn't feel like he was as far along as Jewel said, he still smiled at the compliment.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Jewel."

She only replied with a light chuckle, as the two lovebirds put their heads together while they waited for the right time to continue their search.

* * *

As for Pedro and Nico, the high of possibly finding one of the kids' feathers wore off pretty quickly, as their search through the sections they already went through turned up empty. Still, they weren't dismayed by the lack of any new clues, as that meant they were most likely still heading away from the sanctuary.

Once they reached a new part of their assigned section, they landed on a tree branch nearby to plan out their route.

"So, what do you think? Should we go with the sure thing and do what we did yesterday?" asked Pedro.

"Sounds good. How about we trade places, though? You take top and I take bottom."

"Any reason why?"

"Just to switch things up."

Pedro looked at Nico warily for a second before figuring that there was no harm in trying something different. He shrugged before replying.

"Yeah, sure. Maybe it might work out a little better."

Nico nodded, and the two of them took off, to begin their search through the new area.

Eventually, Pedro and Nico came upon a small clearing. Neither of them saw anything in the area, so they were about to leave the area and move on. However, Nico stopped in his tracks, as he suddenly got an idea.

"Hey, Pedro!" he called out to his friend, who was already on his way out of the clearing.

The red-crested cardinal stopped in his tracks, turning around to face where Nico was still hovering.

"What is it? Shouldn't we keep moving?"

"Come here! I've got an idea!"

Once Pedro rejoined Nico in the clearing, the canary pointed down towards the ground.

"You see the ground down there? It might still be soft after the thunderstorm yesterday, so there might be some tracks."

Instead of commending Nico on his idea, Pedro looked at his friend like he grew another head.

"Are you crazy? Have you forgotten that we're all birds? And that we can fly?"

"Hey, nothing wrong with giving it a shot. Don't you agree?"

Pedro sighed in exasperation.

"I swear, I don't know where your head's at sometimes."

"Pot calling the kettle black, Pedro."

Pedro didn't quite get Nico's idiom, so he just looked at him confused. Rather than try to explain it to him, Nico just rolled his eyes and headed towards the ground, Pedro following close behind.

As Nico walked along the ground, searching for any clues, Pedro followed along, half-heartedly looking himself, mostly because he didn't believe that they would find anything.

However, Pedro's doubts would be proved incorrect, as Nico suddenly called out.

"Hey, I found something!"

Pedro flitted over to where Nico was standing, and his beak fell open as he saw a set of small footprints in the ground.

Pedro looked at Nico in shock, definitely not expecting that the kids would ever travel on the ground.

As for Nico himself, he couldn't resist giving his friend a smug look at being right.

"You know, I don't think I'll ever figure you out." said Pedro, shaking his head.

Nico opened his beak to say something, when the two of them suddenly heard rustling from a bush on the outskirts of the clearing.

"Did you hear that?" whispered Nico as he looked over at his friend.

Pedro nodded.

"I hope it's not anything that's going to eat us!" he said, freaking himself out as he thought about all the predators that would most likely be having them for lunch right about now.

Nico paused before replying.

"I'm gonna go check it out."

"No, don't!"

Pedro frantically tried to grab at Nico and hold him back, but the canary was too fast. Pedro watched nervously as Nico flitted over to the bush and peered through it.

Expecting to see a giant animal bursting out of the bush, Pedro was surprised to hear a gasp coming from Nico.

"Pedro, come quick!"

The red-crested cardinal shot over to the bush and his beak dropped as he saw what was inside.

"Oh my god."


	5. Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER: Everything related to Rio is owned by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios. The only thing I claim as mine is the concept for this story.

* * *

Nigel and Gabi were once again aimlessly riding through the jungle, trying to find Blu so that Nigel could follow through with his plans of revenge.

"I don't understand! We've been searching for hours, and I haven't seen hide nor feather of that blasted bird!" said Nigel, exasperated.

Although Nigel was still focused on eliminating Blu, in the back of his mind he still remembered about what happened yesterday, and his curiosity has not abated in the hours since then.

Rather than give him her usual love struck look, Gabi gave Nigel a slightly annoyed look instead, remembering how many times she attempted to let Nigel know that Blu was there.

"Didn't you know? He was at that audition those other birds were having. You were too busy singing to notice."

Nigel's eyes widened as he realized what Gabi was saying. He quickly pulled back on Charlie's neck, making the tamandua stop as he focused on the frog.

"Are you telling me that I was this close to him, and I didn't even see him?"

Nigel had two of his feathers spaced about an inch apart from each other to emphasize his point. Gabi simply nodded, and Nigel took it pretty hard.

"Oh why must my need to be a star override my other needs?"

Nigel covered his face with one of his wings as he lightly tapped Charlie on the head in despair.

However, as Nigel was busy feeling sorry for himself, Gabi suddenly heard a noise coming from a few feet away.

"Shh! Do you hear that?"

Nigel ignored Gabi at first, but after another, louder shush from the frog, he reluctantly became quiet and listened in.

"I do hear something! Let's go see what it is."

Nigel, now somewhat excited, turned Charlie to face the direction of the sound and began making his way over to where it was.

* * *

"Oh my god! Tiago!"

By some miracle, Blu and Jewel's son just happened to be in the bush that Pedro and Nico were currently looking at. Both of them were excited that they finally managed to find one of them, but when they managed to pull him out of the bush and get a good look at them, it wasn't a pretty sight.

Tiago was thankfully still breathing, but his body was covered in scratches, and he also looked incredibly frazzled, no doubt due to the stress he must have been going through over the last day or so since they went missing.

One of his wings was also bent at an angle that made Nico cringe, as he wondered just what happened to make it that way.

Nervously, Pedro leaned towards Tiago and gave him a light shake, hoping that he would wake up. Unfortunately, he didn't, so the two friends had only one option.

"We have to get him back to the sanctuary, and quickly!" said Nico.

"I agree, but how are we gonna fix him up? He looks like a mess, and I highly doubt any of the birds have any medical experience."

Nico paused as he considered what to do.

"What about Linda and Tulio? They can take him back to Rio, and he'll be fixed up no problem!"

"That can work. How are we gonna let them know, though? We're not exactly buddy-buddy with them like Blu is with Linda."

"Well, we'll just leave it up to Blu. Once we get Bia and Carla back, we can get them help all at once!"

Pedro nodded, understanding what Nico was getting at. However, when the canary mentioned the other kids, he suddenly realized something was missing.

"Where are Bia and Carla, anyway? I don't see them."

Pedro and Nico quickly scanned the area, but there was no sign of the two females. Once they returned to Tiago's side, Nico turned towards his friend.

"I'm guessing that they must have gotten separated during yesterday's storm."

"Man, and here I was thinking that we've found them all! Hopefully they haven't gotten too far."

Nico sighed, agreeing with Pedro's comment.

"We'd better get Tiago back to the sanctuary."

Both Nico and Pedro looked at Tiago anxiously, not wanting to cause the small bird any more pain. However, the only option they had to carry him was with their feet, so they reluctantly went to either side of Tiago and lightly grabbed him with their talons, lifting off and flying back to the sanctuary as carefully as possible.

* * *

As they flew off, though, a rustling came from another bush next to the clearing, and Nigel, Gabi and Charlie popped out, looking up at the disappearing forms of the other birds.

"Hmm…this is interesting. It looks like that bird's kids are missing." said Nigel, bringing a feather to his chin in thought.

"Do you have any plans to use that against him?" asked Gabi, curious.

"Well, according to what those two birds said, they will be taking the kid to some kind of sanctuary. So, all we need to do is find this sanctuary, and we'll find who we're looking for!"

"Oh, you are such a master at planning, Nigel!"

Nigel gave Gabi a smug look.

"I know. I am."

Nigel sighed before hopping back on Charlie and turning the tamandua around.

"Find me that sanctuary!" he said, pointing forwards.

Charlie didn't immediately start moving, so Nigel was forced to kick him in the side with his foot, which finally got him going as they followed the direction that Pedro and Nico went.

* * *

A few miles from where Tiago was found, Roberto and Rafael were busy trying to search their section of the jungle, calling all three of the kids' names.

Rafael couldn't help but be impressed seeing the change that came over Roberto. He was focused entirely on finding the kids, and his attention did not waver one bit. He was definitely grateful to have him along.

Unfortunately, even after searching through what they went through yesterday and starting on a new part of the forest, there was no sign of any of them. The two of them kept at it, undaunted.

After a while, Rafael was starting to get tired, so he got Roberto's attention, and the two of them landed in a tree near them to rest for the moment.

As the two of them perched on the tree branch, taking in the sights of the jungle, Rafael turned towards his partner.

"Hey Roberto, I'm impressed. You really seem to have turned things around since yesterday."

Roberto smiled.

"Really? Thanks, Rafi. Ever since we've had that talk, I've been trying my best to keep my head on straight and focus on what we're doing. By the way…what are we doing again?"

Roberto gave Rafi a look, but the toucan's angry look forced him to immediately back off.

"I'm joking! I'm joking."

Rafael didn't immediately believe him, but the sincere look the macaw gave him made him change his mind.

"So, are you gonna be alright to keep going?"

Rafi paused as he considered whether he was in fact rested. Unfortunately, before he could answer, a loud crack of thunder sounded, making the two birds jump.

"Man, another one? We just had a rainstorm yesterday!"

"Maybe it's just thunder." said Roberto.

"Could be. Let's find some shelter first, just in case it does start to rain."

Roberto agreed, and the two birds managed to find a hole in a tree not too far from where they were standing, hoping that they wouldn't have to wait out a storm for too long.

* * *

Thankfully, it was only a light rain, so it wouldn't cost Blu and Jewel any time having to stay in shelter. As they continued to fly through their part of the jungle, Blu couldn't help but sigh in content, turning towards Jewel.

"Man, this rain is actually pretty nice. I don't know why I was so worried about going outside when it's raining."

Jewel gave her mate a questioning look.

"You don't like getting wet?"

Blu's eyes widened, realizing he just blabbed something that he shouldn't have. He nervously cleared his throat, making an attempt to explain himself.

"Well, um…I don't know if you've ever experienced this before, but when it rains, it sounds much louder when you're inside a building than outside. And when you've spent as much time as I did back in Minnesota, that kind of noise can get to you sometimes. Besides, I bet you're not much different. That's why we had to seek shelter during the thunderstorm yesterday."

Jewel couldn't help but chuckle.

"Okay, I'll give you that, Blu. That was only because the rain was much worse then. When it's as light as it is right now, it's not really a huge problem for me."

Blu admittedly wasn't surprised that Jewel had a different outlook on rain compared to him. He gave her a warm smile before returning to focusing on the search.

Unfortunately, it was starting to get dark, so Jewel turned towards Blu.

"Are you ready to head back?"

Blu paused. As much as he knew that it wouldn't be safe to be out in the jungle after dark, he really wanted to at least have some kind of clue to go on. The amount of searching they've done without any clues to the kids' whereabouts was starting to worry him.

"I think we can risk a couple more minutes. It shouldn't be too big of a deal."

"Are you sure, Blu? You've said it yourself. The jungle isn't very safe at night."

"It's only a few minutes. It shouldn't make a huge difference."

Jewel was pretty impressed by Blu's sudden bravado, but the frightened look on her mate's face slightly tempered that feeling. Still, she shrugged, and the two of them continued on.

It was beginning to get difficult for the two of them to see, but somehow Jewel managed to spot something on the ground not too far in front of them.

"Hey, I think I see something!"

Blu attempted to follow the direction of her gaze to find out what she was looking at, but she suddenly went into dive, forcing Blu to quickly flap his wings to catch up with her.

After finally landing, Jewel took a closer look at what she found, which turned out to be a pair of earbuds.

"Look! I think these might be Carla's!"

"Are you sure she didn't leave them back at the sanctuary?" asked Blu.

"Then who do you think would leave a pair of earbuds in the middle of the jungle? Hmm?"

Blu opened his beak for a second before closing it, realizing that he had no answer.

"Do you know what this means? We might be getting close!"

Jewel began calling out for Carla, but Blu, not wanting to attract any predators, immediately went over and placed a wing over her beak.

"Shh! Do you want to attract that jaguar to us?"

Jewel gave her mate a dirty look, but Blu was undeterred.

"Let's head back to the sanctuary. We're on the right track, so we should hopefully be able to find her in the morning."

Jewel reluctantly agreed, knowing that continuing to search for her was only going to lead to more trouble, so the two of them began heading back to the sanctuary at a quicker pace to hopefully beat the sunset.

* * *

Thankfully, the two macaws managed to make it back to the sanctuary just before night fell. As they flew in, they were met by the rest of the search party.

"Where have you two been? We were beginning to think a jaguar got to you!" said Rafael.

Blu and Jewel shared a nervous laugh before Blu began explaining himself.

"Well, admittedly a jaguar did almost get us. We got away, though."

The other four birds gave the two of them incredulous looks, but they let him go on.

"We actually decided to hold off on coming back immediately. We were hoping to find some sort of clue about where the kids were."

"Well, did you find anything?" asked Nico.

Jewel held out Carla's earbuds.

"Hopefully she might have dropped them while they were traveling with each other and forgot about it."

Both Pedro and Nico shared a nervous look, which ended up catching Blu's attention.

"Do you know something, guys?"

Nico hopped forward, deciding to take the initiative.

"Well, you see…Pedro and I believe that the three of them might have gotten separated during the thunderstorm yesterday."

"And how do you know that?" asked Jewel, giving Nico a questioning look.

"Because we found Tiago by himself."

Both Blu and Jewel were shocked, not even sure what to think. Admittedly, they were both ecstatic that one of their kids was safe and sound, but the fact that it was only one of them made them even more worried. Jewel quickly shot over to where Nico was standing and grabbed his wing.

"Show us…please. We want to see if he's alright."

Nico didn't exactly feel comfortable showing the two macaws their son with him being in the state they found him in, but he couldn't just refuse. So reluctantly, he sighed.

"Follow me."

The canary flew off, and the rest of the group followed behind him, all in various states of nervousness (except for Pedro, as he already knew) as they wondered exactly what they were going to see.


	6. Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: Everything related to Rio is owned by 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios. The only thing I claim as my own is the concept for this story.

* * *

When the group finally managed to reach where Nico and Pedro were keeping Tiago, they were all surprised to see him somehow awake. Even Nico, who always thought of himself as a pretty rational bird, couldn't process the fact that Tiago was awake so quickly.

"Tiago. You're awake." he said breathlessly.

However, before he could go over to check on him, both Blu and Jewel pushed past the canary and rushed over to Tiago's bedside. Unable to resist, Jewel gave her son a big hug.

"Oh my god, Tiago. I missed you so much."

"I missed you too, Mom. Now can you please let me go? You're hurting me."

Jewel suddenly realized what she was doing and let Tiago go, her heart breaking as she looked at the pain in her son's face due to the bad wing.

"I'm sorry, Tiago. I didn't mean to do it that hard."

After a few seconds, the pain finally subsided, allowing Tiago to reply.

"It's okay, mom. I understand what you and dad must have been going through."

Tiago paused before continuing on.

"Also, I'm sorry for putting you through all of this. We were never planning on staying out that long. It was just gonna be an hour."

Jewel gave her son a warm smile.

"I'm just glad that you're back, Tiago. Your father and I wouldn't have known what we could have done without Pedro and Nico's help."

She looked over at the two birds in question.

"Thank you, you two. You're being such a great help."

"It's nothing, Jewel. We would have helped no matter what." said Nico.

"Yeah, what he said. What kind of friends would we be if we didn't help?"

In the midst of all of the congratulations being spread around, Rafael stepped forward and spoke up.

"Don't forget, you guys. Bia and Carla are still out there somewhere. We're not quite done yet."

The mood in the room deflated relatively quickly after Rafi's statement. Blu stepped forward to take charge of the situation.

"Rafi's right. We need to think about a new course of action. There's no telling if the two of them are together or miles away from each other, as much as I don't want to think about that."

"Well, why don't we see if Tiago knows anything? We might get an idea of where they could be." said Roberto.

Blu nodded, agreeing with Roberto's suggestion. He turned towards his bedridden son, carefully leaning over him to appear less intimidating and avoid frightening the young bird.

"Tiago, do you remember anything about what happened with Bia and Carla? You're not in any trouble. We can just really use the help."

The group watched as Tiago tried to rack his brain and remember any important details. Unfortunately, the look that he gave his parents gave them an idea of his answer before he even said it.

"I'm sorry. The last thing I can remember was the rainstorm. Bia was trying to get back to the sanctuary because she was worried you were gonna be mad about us running away. We tried to chase after her, but I couldn't see because of the lightning. So, I hit my head on a tree and got knocked out."

"And when you woke up, they weren't there with you?" asked Jewel.

Tiago simply nodded, causing his parents to trade looks of worry.

"Do you remember anything else that happened?" asked Blu.

Tiago shook his head, before his eyes suddenly widened, having remembered something.

"After I woke up, I spent some time trying to find them."

"Why didn't you come back to the sanctuary?" asked Jewel.

"I had no idea where I was. After getting hit in the head like that, I was so disoriented."

Blu opened his beak, thinking that Tiago was done with his explanation, but the young macaw continued to speak.

"I, um…I was looking around in some kind of clearing, which I think was the one that Uncle Nico and Uncle Pedro found me in. I turned around to head back when there was this big cat right in my face. I got knocked into a bush and passed out. I guess the cat must not have found me."

Blu and Jewel once again traded looks before Blu stepped forward.

"Thank you for the help, Tiago. You go get some sleep. We'll figure out a way to get your sisters back."

Tiago looked relieved at finally getting a chance at some rest, but before he could actually go to sleep, Eduardo flew in through the opening in the tree.

"Where is he? Where's my grandson?"

"Dad! Your grandson was just about to go to sleep before you burst in!" said Jewel, annoyed.

Realizing what he was doing, Eduardo calmed himself down and finally saw Tiago in his bed. A smile broke out on his face as he tried to give him a hug, but Jewel got in his way before he could.

"No hugs, dad. He's hurt."

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, how is he doing? Did he get back alright?"

"Outside of a broken wing and a few scratches, he's fine." said Blu.

Blu suddenly paused.

"Actually, come to think of it, how are we gonna fix him up?"

The entire group paused to think before Nico suddenly spoke up.

"Well, while we were bringing Tiago back here, we thought about having Linda and Tulio come look at him."

"I don't know. I remember hearing that those two were going on some kind of expedition to find this place. To be honest, who knows where they are?" said Blu.

"Well, do you have any other options?"

Blu opened his beak to answer; only to close it once again as he realized that this was the best option they had.

"Let's just focus on finding Bia and Carla, and then we'll worry about treating anything medical related."

Blu really wanted to simply lead Linda and Tulio to the sanctuary right then and there, but with the look that Eduardo had on his face, he wasn't too enthusiastic about the prospect of having humans around, despite wanting to see Tiago get better.

So, after the group agreed with Blu's plan, they all went their separate ways, except for Blu and Jewel, who decided to spend the night looking after Tiago to make sure he was okay.

* * *

The next day, the search party was all at their usual spot, preparing to try and find the remaining two kids, when a small sea of red came cascading out of the sky, forming a group of six of the scarlet red macaws including Felipe at the front.

Everyone immediately tensed when they saw the scarlet macaws land.

"What are you doing here, Felipe? Didn't we agree that this was still our territory?" asked Roberto.

Instead of making a snide remark, Felipe immediately held his wings up in front of him.

"Whoa, Roberto, chill. We're not trying to cause any trouble. I've just been thinking for the past few days since those two came through our territory."

Felipe pointed towards Blu and Jewel as he continued on.

"I've realized just how completely stupid this whole battle between our species is becoming. Honestly, I just want to bury the hatchet, which is why we'd like to offer our help in finding your children."

Only Roberto seemed to be the most surprised out of the group, mostly because of the fact that he had the most experience in dealing with the scarlet macaws in the past. Everyone else was frankly overjoyed with the fact that they had more help.

Jewel was completely prepared to agree to let them help, only for Roberto to quickly rush over and clamp a wing over her beak, silencing her. Through Jewel's muffled protest, Roberto quickly turned towards Felipe.

"Uh, can you give us a minute? We'd like to talk this over."

Felipe thought for a moment, unsure if he should let them do so, but he eventually sighed and let them go. Roberto quickly signaled for Blu to follow them, and the two of them along with Jewel flew out of earshot of the rest of the group.

Before Jewel could tell him off for pulling her away from an opportunity like this was, Roberto quickly shushed her before explaining his actions.

"Look, I'd like to have as much help to find the kids as the next bird, but are you sure you guys want to trust someone like Felipe?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't we?" asked Blu.

"How can you be sure that he won't go back on his word and try to take the rest of our land when he gets the chance?"

Jewel sighed.

"This really isn't the time for letting Felipe's actions in the past color your judgment, Roberto. In case you don't remember, Bia and Carla are still missing, and we still have a huge amount of area to cover with just the six of us."

"But-"

"Look, I'm not forcing you to get along with Felipe and the other scarlet macaws. You and dad can work it out later. All I'm asking is that you give them a chance to help us out."

Roberto sputtered, attempting to think of something to try to convince Blu and Jewel, but he sighed when he realized that she was right.

"All right, Jewel. I see your point. I'll work with them."

"Are you gonna play nice?" asked Jewel, giving Roberto a hard stare.

Roberto nodded, although in the back of his mind, he wasn't sure yet if he would be able to.

Eventually, the three spix macaws returned to the rest of the group, and Jewel stepped forward to give Felipe his answer.

"As I was about to say, Felipe, we really would appreciate any help we can get."

Felipe smiled.

"That's great! Don't worry, we won't let you guys down. Anyway, is there anything specific that you want us all to do?"

He pointed towards the rest of his crew as he looked at Blu and Jewel. Blu paused as he thought about what he wanted to do.

"How about you guys split into groups of two and join up with our groups. With groups of four, we should be able to cover a much wider area."

"You know, that actually isn't such a bad idea." said Felipe.

He quickly partnered each of the scarlet macaws he was with and joined the remaining one. When they joined up with the rest of the group, Blu quickly turned around to face the rest of the birds.

"Nico, Pedro, Rafi and Roberto. You guys are gonna be in charge of making sure that your new recruits know what they're doing when you start searching. Please make sure they do so. I really would like to avoid risking any problems when we might be getting on the right track."

Blu looked on as all of the birds called on nodded in understanding.

"All right, so is everyone ready to go?"

Once again, everyone nodded, and the twelve birds lifted off, ready to head off on another day of searching.


End file.
